Local documentary featuring up-and-comers premiering at The Blue Note

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Saturday night, The Blue Note is screening a local documentary, “Dream On,” starring colorful characters from Columbia trying to make their aspirations come true. The film follows 12 talented people, including senior basketball player Kim English, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards and nine-time Emmy winner Sarah Hill of KOMU, as they work to achieve their dreams of stardom.

“Popularity is an accident," Hill tells the cameras in the movie trailer. "Fame is a vapor.”

Other dreamers featured in the doc include a rock band, a hopeful TV sports reporter, two struggling actresses and a pair of country singers. The bands and artists starring in the film also perform the musical score.

Most of these subjects will be at the premiere. Two bands featured in the film, Lunar Mansion and Jet!, are performing at The Blue Note after the screening.

According to the trailer, “Dream On” is all about “real people with real talent all trying to do the improbable… Those who saw the odds and kept going.”

Jet Ainsworth, the film’s producer, wanted to make this film because of the dreams he himself once chased.

“I had just recorded an album after quitting music for 10 years and invited filmmakers to shoot a small show I was doing,” he says. “The show went so badly that I was thinking about quitting music again altogether. I had a heart-to-heart talk with a friend, and we got into the depths of why people try to do things that are not necessarily attainable. We wanted to explore that idea.”

So Ainsworth, a radio DJ, set off to make the "Dream On" project. He contacted struggling dream-chasers he knew through his radio connections and filmed them for six weekends over the summer.

Six months later, the film was ready for the public.

“What we really want is to have this film come out and people see this talent and help the people in the film,” Ainsworth says. “We’re hoping to get some financial help to get some distribution and tour it around the country. We want to see if we can get a grassroots following behind it.”

Hill, who speaks about her struggles and past experiences, says she has always been a dreamer.

“The whole purpose of (the film) intrigued me,” she says. “I’m tickled to be part of a local endeavor that encourages people to follow their dreams. I like to do projects that other people might consider ‘out there.’”

She says her favorite piece of advice for dreamers attempting to overcome their obstacles is, “An opposing wind raises a kite higher.”

Since the documentary was filmed, several of its stars have gotten their break. Kim English worked tirelessly over the summer and is now one of the best three-point shooters in the nation. Jolene Kay moved to Los Angeles and received a role in the next “Star Trek” movie. Chris Hatfield scored a one-album deal with a record label.

“What I like about this project is there is no ending," Ainsworth says. "It’s life. It’s just a continuation.”